Hoboken - The mile-square city is a draw for young people. Photo taken the afternoon of March 2, 2013.

HOBOKEN -- While Hoboken's always been a family town, it's quite a draw for young people too - and considering the dozens of bars and restaurants and the easy commute to New York, it's no wonder so many people under 30 rent apartments here.

And once a year, on the first Saturday in March, their friends come in to celebrate the upcoming St. Patrick's Day. Or maybe they're just celebrating their youth.

In 2012, the committee running the annual Hoboken St. Patrick’s Parade canceled it because they didn’t want to move it from Saturday to Wednesday night, as Mayor Dawn Zimmer requested. Zimmer wanted it moved to cut down on the debauchery. The parade was traditionally held on the first Saturday in March to cut down on competition with other cities to get the best bands.

This year, the parade has been canceled for the second year in a row. The city will hold an Irish cultural festival, but a group of independent residents have created a bar crawl called “Leprecon” for the first Saturday in March (today).

Pictured is a group of girls making their way through Hoboken's Columbus Park around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Many other people in their twenties were seen buying cases of beer, heading to the bars, and wearing green beads.

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